Trash companies are sales. Did you get that sleazy car salesmen feel when hearing their presentation pitch? Did you question yourself? Asking if you were paranoid? No, you weren’t paranoid. It was indeed a sleazy sales pitch. And I can say that, I sold cars for a stint. They sold the Board Members and next was us, the citizens. But …we know better don’t we!?
Again, as we have been doing quite a lot of research, we’ve learned how hard the trash companies work to “sell” their “product” and yes, it does have a sleazy salesman pitch feel. When you sit back and really consider the order of things – it is off….let’s review..
- County Waste targets Cumberland County for a landfill.
- County Waste quietly approaches the county.
- County Waste, under a different business name, buys up land having sellers sign the hush.
- County Waste, under a different business name, presents an environmental sounding recycling facility.
- County Waste, hires a lawyer for the meetings, so “Shumake” does the talking – not County Waste.
- When the deal is signed with the County – it then becomes what it is – County Waste trying to put a dump in Cumberland County.
Yes, not quite up to snuff – eh?
In speaking with other advocates who fought such situations successfully, these “Green” companies use many ploys in making us, the citizens who are targeted and victimized, feel stupid, criminalized, and intimated. I’ve seen this here in Cumberland as well:
- Strong police presence at meetings (because we, the citizens, are the criminals)
- They arrive in limos, escorted, chauffeured vehicles (to make us feel “less than”)
- Body guards (to protect them from us)
- Ignore, speak to authorities instead of us, vaguely address our questions (to make us feel stupid)
The trash companies often use “Green” and “Recycling” in their titles, presentations, and talks. This tactic is to make citizens believe that the company is environmentally friendly, a guest, neighborly, who focus is on recycling instead of digging a hole in your land, dumping other states trash in, covering it up with dirt, for their profit! Oh, but they will give the county a few grand for a library, or park, or program. That makes it all okay.
The sleazy sales pitch? Mr. Moy states it best – “If trash is such a great deal, why aren’t other states clamoring to import it?” asked Conway Moy, 49, a federal worker from King George County, home of one of the “mega-fills” that handle mostly out-of-state waste. “We just weren’t sophisticated enough to realize we were being taken as fools.” Washington Post
All in all, they are the bad guys and we did not welcome them to be our neighbor. Don’t be taken for a fool.